Swinging door hinge unit



July 25, 1967 F. w. LEACH SWINGING DOOR HINGE UNIT Filed Feb. 11, 1965 I NVE N TOR. ILIFEDE/FIC h/ LAcH United States Patent 3,332,104 SWINGING DOOR HINGE UNIT Frederic W. Leach, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, assignor to American Home Products Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 431,932 Claims priority, application Canada, Oct 19, 1964, 914,299, Patent 715,737 2 Claims. (Cl. 16-130) This invention relates to an improved hinge assembly for establishing the upper pivot mounting of a folding door installation through which clearance between the upright jamb of the doorway and the edge of the door nearest said jamb may be quickly and readily adjusted and thereby facilitate positioning of the door in proper alignment with the doorway when the doors of the installation are closed.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view, with parts in vertical section, of a door unit in mounted relation to a doorway via a hinge assembly embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a Vertical section taken along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the hinge assembly elements in unassembled relationship.

Referring particularly to the drawing, a hinge assembly embodying the features of this invention is shown in operative relationship to a door designated by numeral 10, and a doorway having an upper frame member 11 and an upright jamb 12 from the upper end of which said frame member 11 extends horizontally in overhead relation to the door when the latter is in closing relation to said doorway.

As shown, the frame member 11 provides a fixed support for a downwardly facing track member having a pair of duplicate side rails 13 and a connecting web 14 by which the rails are joined in downwardly extending relation to said web 14 and lengthwise of said frame member 11 along spaced apart parallel lines. Screws 15, or other suitable fastening means, secured in the frame member 11 via screw receiving openings formed in the web 14 establish a rigid connection of the track member with said frame member 11. Reference numeral 16 designates a pivot pin secured in upwardly projecting relation to the upper edge of the door 10 via screws 17 fitting openings in a base plate 18 to which the pivot is fixed. A hearing member, generally designated by numeral 19, when operatively installed between the rails of the track member as shown in FIG. 1, cooperates with the door pivot pin 16 to establish the axis of swinging movement of the door 10 via a socket 20 in said bearing member in which said pin 16 is receivable. The bearing member 19 preferably comprises a block of nylon which is split upwardly along opposite longitudinal edges of its lower face for a predetermined distance short of the upper face of said bearing member to define a pair of wings 21. Inherent stresses at the junction of said wings with the body of the member 19 straddled by said wings act to normally maintain said wings in downwardly and diverging relation at such distance apart as to have downward engagement with flanges 22 extending inwardly from the lower edges of the rails 13 of the track member. Due to the resiliency of said junction, the wings 21 are compressible and thereby brought sufficiently close to the body of the bearing member between said wings to allow entry of said wings to the area between 3,332,104 Patented July 25, 1967 the rails via the space between the flanges 22 and thereby trap the bearing members against withdrawal from the confines of the track member. While the bearing member thus has supporting engagement with the flanges 22 of the track member opposite longitudinal faces of that portion of the bearing member extending upwardly from the body portion straddled by the wings are positioned within the confines of a pair of auxiliary rails 23 extending downwardly from the web 14 of the track member to define a guideway in upwardly aligned relation to the space between flanges 22 along the lower edge of the rails 13. The guideway thus defined by the auxiliary rails 23 accordingly cooperate with the upright faces of the bearing member opposite thereto to restrain the bearing member against displacement from a position wherein the axis of the pivot pin receiving socket is located centrally of the rails 13 of the track member. Having established a position of the bearing member 19 at a selected distance from the jamb 12 of the doorway according to the desired spacing of the door 10 relative to said jamb, such position is conveniently fixed by means of a threaded securing member 24 projecting into the area between the upper surface of the bearing member 19 and the surface of the web 14 opposite thereto via an internally threaded bore 25 in the bearing member. It will be seen that by turning the securing member 24 in a direction to elevate said securing member relative to the bearing member via said threaded bore 25 that the wings 21 will react to such action by establishing downward binding engagement with the surface of the flanges 22 underlying said wings. The bearing member 19 .is thus readily fixed against displacement from a selected position along the track as well as readily freed for adjustment to a different selected position through operation of the threaded securing member 24.

It will be understood that in actual use of a hinge assembly according to this invention that the door 10 has pivotal support in downward axial alignment with the pivot pin 16 along the lower edge of the door 10 via any conventional means such as a bracket 25 fixed in a suitable manner to the floor 26 and the jamb 11, and a door mounted pivot pin 27 extending downwardly from the lower edge of door 10 as shown in FIG. 1.

What is claimed is:

1. A swinging door hinge unit including a track member having a pair of duplicate side rails joined in spaced parallel relation by a connecting web in overhead relation to the area between said rails, coplanar flanges extending inwardly from said rai-ls at a uniform distance apart to define a restricted open area centrally of said rails, a bearing member receivable between said rails, a pair of wings integrally joined to said bearing member via a resilient connection which normally stresses said wings to occupy downwardly diverging positions wherein the lower edges of said wings have downward engagement with upper surfaces of said flanges of the track member to trap said bearing member against withdrawal from the confines of said rails while said resilient connection allows compression of said wings to permit insertion of said bearing members between said rails via said opening between said flanges and means for fixing the position of said bearing member lengthwise of said rails of the track member, a door mounted-pivot pin having its axis of rotation defined by a downwardly open socket in said bearing member in vertical alignment with said space between the flanges of the track member, and a pair of auxiliary rails extending downwardly from the connecting web of the track member defining a guideway in upward alignment with the space between said flanges with which said hearing member has engagement to maintain said socket centrally of said flanges of the track member.

2. A swinging door hinge unit according to claim 1, wherein said bearing member is provided with an internal- 3 4 1y threaded bore connecting upper and lower surfaces of References Cited said bearing member and a screw threadedly engaging said UNITED STATES PATENTS bore and having upward engagement with the surface of 2,836,215 5/1958 Rapata 151 41 75 the connecting web of the rail opposite thereto to cause r 3 251,0 9 5 1966 Fergison 1 151 said wings to have binding engagement with the upper 0 3,269,453 8/1966 Vecchiarelli et a1. 160-476 surfaces ofsaid flanges to thereby estabhsh the position M ARVIN A CHAMPION, Primary Examiner. of the bearing member lengthwise of said track member as a reaction to advance movement of said screw in said EDWARD ALLEN Examinerbore. J. H. MCGLYNN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SWINGING DOOR HINGE UNIT INCLUDING A TRACK MEMBER HAVING A PAIR OF DUPLICATE SIDE RAILS JOINED IN SPACED PARALLEL RELATION BY A CONNECTING WEB IN OVERHEAD RELATION TO THE AREA BETWEEN SAID RAILS, COPLANAR FLANGES EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM SAID RAILS AT A UNIFORM DISTANCE APART TO DEFINE A RESTRICTED OPEN AREA CENTRALLY OF SAID RAILS, A BEARING MEMBER RECEIVABLE BETWEEN SAID RAILS, A PAIR OF WINGS INTEGRALLY JOINED TO SAID BEARING MEMBER VIA A RESILIENT CONNECTION WHICH NORMALLY STRESSES SAID WINGS TO OCCUPY DOWNWARDLY DIVERGING POSITIONS WHEREIN THE LOWER EDGES OF SAID WINGS HAVE DOWNWARD ENGAGEMENT WITH UPPER SURFACES OF SAID FLANGES OF THE TRACK MEMBER TO TRAP SAID BEARING MEMBER AGAINST WITHDRAWAL FROM THE CONFINES OF SAID RAILS WHILE SAID RESILIENT CONNECTION ALLOWS COMPRESSION OF SAID WINGS TO PERMIT INSERTION OF SAID BEARING MEMBERS BETWEEN SAID RAILS VIA SAID OPENING BETWEEN SAID FLANGES AND MEANS FOR FIXING THE POSITION OF SAID BEARING MEMBER LENGTHWISE OF SAID RAILS OF THE TRACK MEMBER, A DOOR MOUNTED PIVOT PIN HAVING ITS AXIS OF ROTATION DEFINED BY A DOWNWARDLY OPEN SOCKET IN SAID BEARING MEMBER IN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT WITH SAID SPACE BETWEEN THE FLANGES OF THE TRACK MEMBER, AND A PAIR OF AUXILIARY RAILS EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM THE CONNECTING WEB OF THE TRACK MEMBER DEFINING A GUIDEWAY IN UPWARD ALIGNMENT WITH THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID FLANGES WITH WHICH SAID BEARING MEMBER HAS ENGAGEMENT TO MAINTAIN SAID SOCKET CENTRALLY OF SAID FLANGES OF THE TRACK MEMBER. 